It’s not easy this parenting lark is it?
Not so long ago, birthday parties for Miss Frugal and her friends consisted of an hour at soft play followed by some jelly and ice cream but now at the grand old age of nine, those days seem to be long gone. In the last few months alone we’ve had a limo party, a pamper party, a nail art party and this week, tea at Pizza Hut. Preparations for the parties have changed as well – there’s no more cute frilly party dresses for a start. Getting ready now takes a lot longer and involves carefully selected (by her not me) outfits and a handbag filled with lip gloss, perfume and a mobile phone.
Still, my growing up traumas are nothing compared to what one of my friends at work is going through at the minute, her 18 year old daughter is about to buy her first car, having just passed her driving test. I’m dreading this when my two are older, although I do like the sound of the black box insurance that my friend was telling me about.
I’d never heard of this before but apparently a small data box (about the size of a mobile) is installed into your car and measures things like the speed of the car, acceleration and braking, and how well you take corners. This data is then analysed to calculate the insurance premium payable which means that the safer they drive, the less money they could be charged for their insurance premium – the perfect incentive to drive safely if you ask me.
I also like the idea of this type of cover because it allows the insurer to judge an individual based on their driving history rather than how a statistic says you should drive. I always think it’s such a shame when even careful young drivers have to pay a premium based on the boy (and girl) racers out there.
Not all companies offer Black Box Insurance at the moment but you can get a quote from Ingenie if you’re interested and hopefully by the time my two are old enough to drive, this sort of insurance will be the norm rather than the exception.
Mine are 8,6 and 3 but i think im going to start saving up for some black boxes.lol…. i might need them.
Mums get so competitive with kids parties now… each one trying to out do one another.
I personally cant compete with limo and nail pampering parties… my frilly dressed, cake, icecream and a party bag birthdays are why my kids dont get invited to other fancier parties.
It puts preasure on the kiddies and on mums who cant afford these things. My daughter was devistated the last 4 birthdays in a row because no one but her 4 cousins want to come to her parties. Makes me feel awful aswell
Aw bless her. We had a pamper party at home last year for Bethan and six of her friends, my friend curled their hair and did their nails for them and they were in their element. I made a little party tea with all sorts of pink food (pink jelly, angel delight, pink fairy cakes) and then I just let them go wild upstairs in her bedroom for an hour – they loved it and it cost practically nothing x x
yes and its ow things like Primary school proms with all the gubbings etc, glad mine are all grown up. certainly a good idea for insurance, sounds fairly unless your kids drive like Nigel Mansell
I'm dreading the prom – my nine year old is already planning hers. It's going to be very pink lol